Estrutura de Capital e Peculiaridades Regionais nas Cooperativas Agropecuárias do Paraná - Brasil

Abstract: This study aims to characterize the capital structure of Paraná’s agribusiness cooperatives and their regional peculiarities. We analyzed regional historical contexts and the forms of capitalization vis-à-vis the colonization processes of European and other Brazilian immigrants and the regional development projects. For this purpose, an intentional sample of the 43 cooperatives of Paraná state was used, representing 99.5% of the total revenue of all agribusiness cooperatives of the state. It was used ANOVA and perceptual mapping to analyze the cooperatives and to identify regional peculiarities. It is concluded that it is possible to group cooperatives according to capitalization strategies and regional characteristics. Among regions analyzed, cooperatives in the western region of Paraná, due to their higher level of industrialization, have greater working capital requirement, and the cooperatives in the center-south mostly have a positive cash position. One limitation of the study is that, without understanding which model could be elected the best for the sector, the question of optimal capital structure remains open for agribusiness cooperatives.